The present invention relates generally to the art of cutting measured lengths of material.
Heretofore, there has been a growing demand in industry for apparatus of the character of that which is conventionally available for the cutting and stripping of electric conductors, and which could be utilized for high speed, accurate and automatic cutting of a variety of extruded and otherwise formed materials of differing cross sectional configuration, and in which the materials may themselves differ considerably as to their inherent characteristics.
In some instances, for example, wire cutting and stripping apparatus of the character of that described and disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,934,982, issued May 3, 1960 has been used for cutting predetermined lengths of small tubing. However, the use of this type of apparatus is extremely limited as to the materials and shapes, and is not entirely satisfactory for such use.
Other apparatus has heretofore been suggested, but such apparatus has, in the main, failed to satisfactorily solve the problems for one or more inherent reasons, including limitations as to sizes or shapes of the material, lack of accuracy, cost, etc.
The present invention proposes to solve the prior problems by providing a multiple purpose cutting apparatus which has a number of improvements and advantages over the known prior art arrangements, and broadly include:
1. Feed rollers that are adjustable for a variety of materials having different shapes and widths, and wherein the adjustable rollers are interconnected for unitary driving operation by a constantly meshed gear train.
2. The utilization of a stepper motor to drive the feed rollers, and control means utilizing a counter for measuring the cut lengths of the material in terms of the cumulative steps of the stepping motor.
3. A unique cutter and presser arrangement for holding the material during the cutting operation.
4. A unique control arrangement for limiting the rotation of the driving shaft for the cutter operating means to a single revolution for each cutting operation.
5. A novel guide means for laterally centering the material with respect to the central axis of the material feed path.